Chase Burns breaks Paul Skenes’ draft record with $9.25 million Reds bonus

Reds prospect Chase Burns signed his first professional contract Thursday and surpassed an MLB draft record set by Pirates rookie pitching sensation Paul Skenes just last year.

As part of his deal, Burns will receive a $9.25 million signing bonus which tops the $9.2 million one that Skenes got when he agreed to his deal with Pittsburgh in 2023, MLB.com’s Jim Callis reported .

The Reds announced the signing with a post on social media, featuring the No. 2 overall pick in this year’s draft smiling as he sat at a desk with a pen in his hand.

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Burns is coming out of Wake Forest, where he was the 2024 ACC Pitcher of the Year after putting up a 2.70 ERA and 0.92 WHIP.

The 21-year-old struck out 191 batters last season in 100 innings while holding a 10-1 record.

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“He’s the best college pitcher I’ve seen,” Wake Forest head coach Tom Walter told MLB.com after the draft. “And that’s no knock on Paul Skenes, who obviously shut us out for eight innings last year [in the College World Series] and was awesome, or Matt Harvey from North Carolina. … Chase Burns is the best I’ve seen.”

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Reds scouting director Joe Katuska told the Cincinnati Enquirer that Burns will head to the Reds’ spring training complex in Arizona on Sunday and that they want to get him onto the field on Monday.

“The biggest thing first is figuring out where he is in a throwing progression,” Katuska told the outlet. “He still has some innings to throw. But it’s been a little bit since he was on the mound in a game situation. We’re going to protect the long-term and what the projection is for him.”

Burns was ranked sixth by MLB for their 2024 pre-draft rankings.

Skenes, for his part, has been worth every penny, getting the start in this year’s All-Star Game after dominating since his May call-up from Triple-A.

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